§ The Prime Minister (Mr. Harold Macmillan)With permission, I will make a statement on the accident at Windscale.
I have now had the opportunity of assessing the Report of Sir William Penney's Committee. This Report was made to the Atomic Energy Authority to assist them in discharging their responsibility for the management of the Windscale Establishment.
I am anxious to give the House and the country the fullest possible information about the accident and the measures taken to deal with its consequences. For this purpose, a White Paper has been presented to Parliament and will be available today. It contains a less technical version, prepared by Sir William Penney's Committee, of their Report on the cause of the accident and the measures taken to deal with it. The White Paper also contains the Committee's Report on the measures taken to protect those employed at the plant and the general public, together with the comments thereon of a special independent Committee set up by the Medical Research Council. I informed the House on 29th October that I had asked for these comments.
This accident occurred during a routine maintenance operation, which is described in the While Paper. It was, of course, a serious matter, and caused disturbance to a large number of people. Hon. Members will, however, wish to consider this matter in a proper perspective. In the last twelve years, we in Britain have built up this new industry without a single 466 serious injury caused by radiation, and there is no evidence that this accident has done any significant harm to any person, animal or property. That this was so is due to the Atomic Energy Authority's general care for health and safety, to the general effectiveness of the safeguards built into the Windscale piles, and to the courage, energy and resourcefulness of those at the installation after the accident. I believe the House will wish to join me in paying tribute not only to their efforts, but also to the quiet confidence and absence of alarm of the general population in the Windscale area.
What is important now is that the lessons to be learned from the accident should be fully digested and applied; on the one hand, to do all that is possible to ensure that there will never again be a similar occurrence; and, on the other, to see how the organisation of the Authority can be improved in the light of the Windscale experience. To this end Sir Alexander Fleck has, at my request, agreed to evaluate the technical data derived from the accident and to recommend what measures are needed to remedy the deficiencies in organisation to which the Authority have called my attention. The terms of reference and constitution of three committees, of which he will be the Chairman, are set out in the White Paper.
Lastly, I can give the House the reassurance that the accident at Windscale has no bearing on the safety of the nuclear power stations being built for the Electricity Authorities. The reasons for this are fully set out in a separate Annex to the White Paper.
§ Mr. GaitskellI agree with the Prime Minister that it is fortunate that this accident did not have more serious consequences, and I would wish on behalf of my right hon. and hon. Friends to join with him in paying our tribute to the care taken by the Authority and to the bearing of the population in the area.
I think the House will wish to study the Report before engaging in any detailed discussions this morning, and I would only ask one question. I understand that Sir Alexander Fleck is to be chairman of three committees. Does the Prime Minister envisage that these committees will produce reports, and, if so, will the reports be published?
§ The Prime MinisterI am sure that the committees will produce reports. I will certainly carefully consider the question of their publication.
§ Mr. GrimondIs it not a remarkable fact that no significant harm has, apparently, been done to any person, animal or property either by this accident or any other accident in the industry? Nevertheless, presumably there was some slight damage caused to a considerable number of people, and I wonder whether the right hon. Gentleman can make any statement about their position in regard to compensation. Has anything been decided as to compensation payable?
§ The Prime MinisterYes, Sir; of course, the Authority will accept responsibility.
§ Mr. RobensIn view of the tremendous importance of the export value of atomic power stations to this country, does the White Paper underline, in perhaps greater detail, what I understood the right hon. Gentleman to say this morning, that there could be no possibility of an accident of this character from the atomic power stations we are building at the present time?
§ The Prime MinisterI thought that that was a very important point, and I am grateful to the right hon. Gentleman for underlining it again. I have had prepared a technical appreciation which sets out, in a separate annex to the White Paper, the reasons why this type of military installation, which this is, has no connection whatever with the civil nuclear power stations where accidents of this type could not occur because of the entirely different character of the two processes.
§ Mr. Harold DaviesI apologise to the right hon. Gentleman for missing just the first few phrases of his statement. Is it not correct that an unusual experiment was taking place at Windscale and that the people who understood it and knew what was happening were not anywhere near the place and had to be sent for? In view of this, in order to assuage public opinion if anything like this should happen in the future, will the right hon. 468 Gentleman consider setting up a completely independent committee of worthy scientific and other people who could be called on to investigate and give the public facts as well as those which are given by official representatives and scientists of the Government?
§ The Prime MinisterI can deal with both parts of that supplementary question. The accident occurred during a routine maintenance operation. The particular operation is called a Wigner release. I have asked Sir William Penney to try to describe, in part of the White Paper, in language which might be understood, precisely what this operation is. It is one which is done at intervals. There was no particular or special experimentation for either civil or military purposes being done at the time of this release. I think that all this will really be easier to understand when hon. Members have had an opportunity of reading the White Paper, which is quite long and really tries to give as complete a picture as we can of all the relevant facts.
With regard to the second part of the hon. Gentleman's question, I am very grateful, as, I am sure, is the whole House and the country, to Sir Alexander Fleck for undertaking this work. On almost every aspect of it, he is the most suitable man, but I must frankly state that, on the purely highly technical atomic aspects of it, I have chosen Sir Alexander because I think that he has sufficient scientific knowledge of a general character. One of the difficulties of meeting the point made by the hon. Gentleman is that all the people who really are the experts in this are, in one way or another, employed under the Atomic Energy Authority.